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French Anniversary Celebration on July 14, 1790 (Undated Engraving)

Depictions of the events in France helped reinforce revolutionary sympathies among the citizens of other European countries. This engraving by the German artist Paul Jakob Laminit (1773-1831) shows an immense crowd gathered on the Champs de Mars to celebrate the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. To mark the ceremony, Duke Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (1754-1838), the Bishop of Autun and later foreign minister, solemnly read mass, after which the commander of the revolutionary troops, Marquis Marie Joseph Motier La Fayette (1757-1834), stepped to the altar and swore an oath of allegiance on behalf of the multitude. After the French won victories in Germany, many of the occupied German principalities, such as Speyer and Mainz, became “republics” and celebrated similar, albeit smaller festivities around “liberty poles” erected by pro-revolutionary Jacobin clubs. Copperplate engraving by Paul Jakob Laminit, undated.

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French Anniversary Celebration on July 14, 1790 (Undated Engraving)

© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz